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Masterpiece: Shadow of the Colossus

A game where love turns a hero into a destroyer of beauty and innocence, this …

In our ongoing search to find the best games ever created, the titles that help to define this hobby of ours, we separate the merely great from the sublime with our "Masterpiece" designation. With the high-definition update of Shadow of the Colossus now a reality, it's time to look at what made this game so special.

Shadow of the Colossus is brought up so often in arguments about whether or not games are art that it's hard for people who haven't played it to hear the name without rolling their eyes. It doesn't help that the game's framerate is hard to tolerate, as it was annoying even for the time it was released. The vision of Team Ico exceeded what the PlayStation 2 could reasonably deliver; the love given to the game is due to the haunting world of the game's battles, and the story that made your actions seem more villainous than heroic.

Some people dismiss Shadow as being a series of boss battles, which is true to an extent, but that's like calling Lost in Translation a romantic comedy.

All that you love will be carried away

You are a man named Wander riding a horse named Agro—who seems to have a will and mind of its own—and you're trying to resurrect the body of a woman who was killed. The land you travel also seems to be mostly dead, nothing more than fear in a handful of dust, and you'll ride across large expanses of the desolation. By using your sword and the sun, you'll be able to guide yourself to the colossi, the 16 huge, lumbering creatures that seem to be more landscape than sentient beings.

Each of the colossi presents a challenge to destroy, and they're all intricately designed. Pay attention to the little details of the game; there is very little here that doesn't mean something, or that doesn't tie into the larger world in some way. You won't be hit over the head with any detail or revelation; the game's power slowly wraps itself around the player. Even the trickiest battle, destroying the colossus, is not a joyous event. A black substance leaves its body and seems to attack you, and you are given the feeling that you are hastening the destruction of the lands you walk.

There is plant life and even a few animals you'll find in your travels, but everything feels still and at peace. It's hard not to feel like an invader, as if you're kicking over headstones in a cemetery. You are doing all this out of love, and your actions look and seem heroic, but there is a certain saying about the cobblestones on the road to hell. Everywhere you look is beauty and everything you kill is a desecration. As the game continues, your character begins to show the wear of his actions, and there are constant hints that there is not much of a happy ending to be found here.

Shadow

One of my favorite novels is a science fiction book called Heroes Die. In it, someone asks the main character what he would do for his wife. "I would burn the world to save her," he answers. That's a trite answer in a work of fiction, but it quickly turns terrifying when the man in question is standing in an ocean of gasoline while holding a match. Shadow of the Colossus doesn't just force you to watch a character burning the world, you have to take part in the act. Watching a colossus topple to the ground is a slow, agonizing thing, and it's falling to its death because of what you did.

There is something larger happening here

The ending scenes move the story along, and the story ties into Team Ico's previous game, Ico, although there is no clear explanation if it's a sequel, a prequel, or it just exists in the same world. It can be argued a few different ways; this is a game that doesn't hold your hand while you look for answers. You give up more than you think in your journey to save the one you love, but your heart will be broken before the last colossus falls.

If you've never played the game before, it may be a good idea to wait for the rerelease with updated graphics; it would be a shame if you quit because of the inconsistent framerate. This is one of the few games that always draws a crowd whenever it's played in my house, it simply draws the eye and keeps your attention even when it appears very little is happening on screen. It is perhaps the ultimate example of "show, don't tell," in the gaming world.

It's hard for any game to live under the sort of hype that Shadow has been saddled with, and there are many other games that could be used in the debate about games as art just as well, but if you can forget about the pretension and enjoy the game for what it is, you'll find a deep, meaningful journey. This is a game that still stirs passionate debate whenever it comes up in conversation, and that's a rarity in gaming. Giving the game a second chance on the PlayStation 3, especially before Team Ico's Last Guardian is released, is a wonderful way to extend the reach of both games.

It's not the perfect game. No game is. The #1 most major criticism isn't the framerate, as stated in the article. I didn't think the loose controls were a problem either - they are intentionally loose. My major problem with the game is that it is too hard to figure out what the game is trying to get you to do. The game doesn't hold your hand enough, and I see that as a major problem. It takes you out of the game when you have to go look at a FAQ for half of the game's bosses.

Simply wandering around the beautiful environment was one of the best parts of the game. Can't wait for the HD rerelease. On a more general note, I really love it when game designers have the stones to simply throw away game conventions that are there only because they've always been. Like wandering mobs in this case, or ammo packs/health packs in others, or even Prince of Persia where you just couldn't die no matter how much you sucked. Things like this are often in games as left overs from the arcade generation, or because of technical limitations that have long since disappeared.

Damnit, I want a PS3 now edit: This isn't meant to be a "Why isn't this out on platform X" post...it's just me lamenting the fact that money precludes me having every platform out there which means I miss out on games I really like. /sad face

I love the write up, but there is a small correction to be made. *Spoilers for Ico and SOTC incoming*. SOTC is a chronological prequel to Ico. Wander and Mono are the common ancestors of the horned children seen in Ico. Fumito Ueda has confirmed this. It's weird that Mono would have children with Wander after raising him from birth, but that is what has been confirmed.

I can't wait for the HD collection so that SOTC and Ico can be appreciated at an acceptable framerate (SOTC) and in a high enough definition to appreciate the world and characters in it (Ico).

I never had to resort to an FAQ to take down the colossi. A bit of trial and error some times, but never a FAQ. I always found that the environment gave you ideas as well as the beasts responses, plus you could always just shine your sword to find its weak points.

Call me old-fashioned if you will, but I can't respect a game that isn't fun to play. SotC is a adequate five minute short film saddled with hours of tedious, poorly-controlled gameplay dumped upon a technologically deficient engine.

occor wrote:

The tagline on the front page for this article is a huge spoiler, don't you think?

Really? The entirety of what is disclosed in the written description is obvious within minutes of booting the game.

It's not the perfect game. No game is. The #1 most major criticism isn't the framerate, as stated in the article. I didn't think the loose controls were a problem either - they are intentionally loose. My major problem with the game is that it is too hard to figure out what the game is trying to get you to do. The game doesn't hold your hand enough, and I see that as a major problem. It takes you out of the game when you have to go look at a FAQ for half of the game's bosses.

I just did mine on trial an error as well. I felt it was more awarding to topple a colossus when the game pretty much left it up to you to figure out the weak points.

I love both this and ICO, and re-completed both recently on the PS3. I cant recall any specific framerate issues when playing either on PS2 or PS3. Perhaps with any truly great grame you can be absorbed in the story so much that mere technical details such as framerate/texture quality etc don't really factor, just like the never did on many classic games of bygone eras.

On a sidenote, I saw the trailer for the "HD" version, and it didn't look much better than just playing it on the PS3 anyway? Nothing like the difference you can see on the God Of War collection.

Call me old-fashioned if you will, but I can't respect a game that isn't fun to play. SotC is a adequate five minute short film saddled with hours of tedious, poorly-controlled gameplay dumped upon a technologically deficient engine.

The game came out in 2005. At the time, it was probably the best engine it could have on PS2. The control felt fine at conveying the idea that you are very much vulnerable and not some incredible genetically modified super soldier. I felt pacing was a rollercoaster ride of absolutely nothing to incredible violence; which I felt was appropriate considering you only have 16 things to fight in the entire game.

It's not the perfect game. No game is. The #1 most major criticism isn't the framerate, as stated in the article. I didn't think the loose controls were a problem either - they are intentionally loose. My major problem with the game is that it is too hard to figure out what the game is trying to get you to do. The game doesn't hold your hand enough, and I see that as a major problem. It takes you out of the game when you have to go look at a FAQ for half of the game's bosses.

Agreed with your seeming point that nothing is ever perfect, that improvements can always be made, but it doesn't take away from the fact that SoTC is an incredible game and a masterpiece in its time compared to other games of similar caliber.

I didn't find that the game was too hard to play or understand, and I didn't have to look at a FAQ for any of the games bosses. In fact, the first time I had ever heard of the game was when a friend told me that he borrowed it from someone else. It looked interesting so I put it in his PS2 and started it up. I didn't know how to control the character or what to do really, and just played through the intro and assisting scenes, then went on my way to the first colossus. Played through the game, start to finish, that day, without any help from FAQs. It all depended on how much you could perceive from the environment, in my opinion, and I did not have a great amount of issues with that. Ended up finding out late that you could stand on Agro while riding him/ride to the side, and did not find out that lizards/other items increased stamina/recovery or whatnot or the secret garden until after I had beaten the game twice, but none of those things really affected the game for me, and possibly made it more challenging.

I feel like we've had a string of really obvious games lately, and everyone knew this was coming, so I'm going to try to find something a little more off-beat for the next one.

Nooo! Don't do it! Just because we all know what the good games are doesn't mean you need to find something obscure that is perhaps less classic! The fun is in the reading of the articles, not the guessing of the topic.

I agree with jdeitz. I wanted to like this game, but I found myself stuck on the 3rd or 4th Colossus. Even the FAQ didn't help. Maybe I'll give it another go when the ICO/Colossus disc comes out for PS3, but I am not terribly hopeful.

One of my favourite games and game soundtracks of all time. I never found the framerate to be bad though.

I didn't find the game too difficult to figure out either. It's a puzzle game, not an action game. The gameplay is figuring things out. The mechanics, graphics, music, and story push it into the greatest of all time category. But if you don't like puzzles, you probably won't like this game.

It's not the perfect game. No game is. The #1 most major criticism isn't the framerate, as stated in the article. I didn't think the loose controls were a problem either - they are intentionally loose. My major problem with the game is that it is too hard to figure out what the game is trying to get you to do. The game doesn't hold your hand enough, and I see that as a major problem. It takes you out of the game when you have to go look at a FAQ for half of the game's bosses.

yep, the game has show stoppers.if you cant figure out what it needs you to do, the game will not move on. luckily we have the internet now and can look it up.

with the last boss i ended up using a faq just out of frustration. while he is not hard to figure out, he is a lengthy battle, guess step 10 wrong and you'll be repeating steps 1-9 which can get old.

in that respect i prefer Ico, but don't get me wrong, i still love Shadow simply because of how emotional it was.

This was one of the few games in which I was glad that I bought based on the reviews it received.

I had read about it in a few reviews, and the idea of a game only consisting of boss battles intrigued me enough to take the plunge and buy it.

What I got was not only that, but an atmospheric game that slowly drew you in, and make you care about who everyone was, and the purpose of killing these giant beasts. Not only that, but they leave everything up to interpretation, due to the nearly complete lack of dialogue.

**SPOILERS** One of the coolest things I noticed while playing was how after each colossi you kill, Wander begins to lose his color. Sort of a physical indication that you killing the colossi isn't for the overall good of the land. By the last colossus, Wander looks like a corpse; pale and lifeless./**SPOILERS**

This was one of the few games in which I was glad that I bought based on the reviews it received.

I had read about it in a few reviews, and the idea of a game only consisting of boss battles intrigued me enough to take the plunge and buy it.

What I got was not only that, but an atmospheric game that slowly drew you in, and make you care about who everyone was, and the purpose of killing these giant beasts. Not only that, but they leave everything up to interpretation, due to the nearly complete lack of dialogue.

**SPOILERS** One of the coolest things I noticed while playing was how after each colossi you kill, Wander begins to lose his color. Sort of a physical indication that you killing the colossi isn't for the overall good of the land. By the last colossus, Wander looks like a corpse; pale and lifeless./**SPOILERS**

Can't wait for the PS3 release!

Strange, I didn't get that what wanderer was doing wasn't good for the land. I more got that it wasn't good for his health possibly, but didn't have an effect on the land *Spoiler* as he seemed to be getting more and more possessed by the dark miasma that was seeping from the colossi, which I realized was most likely the case by the last colossus, when I noticed that he had horns, pale skin, and that his veins were black, which was "confirmed" by the end *Spoiler*. Actually, I thought that what he was doing was good for the land, as *possible spoiler* when the colossus fell, plant life would grow on their corpses and it seemed like more life would come to the areas that they were in (in more sunshine, brighter sands near the beach area, etc) *possible spoiler*

It's not the perfect game. No game is. The #1 most major criticism isn't the framerate, as stated in the article. I didn't think the loose controls were a problem either - they are intentionally loose. My major problem with the game is that it is too hard to figure out what the game is trying to get you to do. The game doesn't hold your hand enough, and I see that as a major problem. It takes you out of the game when you have to go look at a FAQ for half of the game's bosses.

Funny, I considered that one of the games biggest strengths. I hate it when games are too railsy. It reduces the feeling of accomplishment and discovery. I never feel like I'm doing either when the game is constantly alerting me to things and tipping me off.

Anyway, I don't even see how your complaint fits.. The evil temple voice asks you to destroy 16 bosses. You have a sword that points towards the bosses. The rest is just figuring out how to get there, and then how to kill them. Do you really want it to hold your hand even more than that? Leave some game left to play, please! If you just want to shoot or whack at stuff and not bother with trifling details, get Wii Sports Resort.

I always thought Ico was the superior game. The story was presented better, the gameplay was a better mix (platforming, puzzles, and battles), and the ending was far more satisfying. SotC is still an incredible game though...

Damnit, I want a PS3 now edit: This isn't meant to be a "Why isn't this out on platform X" post...it's just me lamenting the fact that money precludes me having every platform out there which means I miss out on games I really like. /sad face

I know the feeling, sometimes you play a game for a bit of entertainment, some fun, whatever. Occasionally though, you want to play a game because it's breathtaking, it's an example of how it should be done. Applies to all media, sometimes you want to just watch a movie for entertainment and it just needs to be generally good, other times you want to watch a particular movie simply because it's a classic (for example, I watched Blade Runner for the first time last week).

This looks like one of those games that I would absolutely love but I may never play it thanks to not really needing a PS3 (although it's on the "to buy" list. Just below building a decent level of savings for buying a house). Still, maybe when the PS3 is $99 and the PS4 is in full swing, I'll grab this from a used pile for $10 and have the time of my life I'm actually tempted to go pick up a used PS2 and the original to give it a go, might be worth while. EBGames will apparently sell me a used PS2 and this game for $45. Gran Turismo 4 is $10 too, could be a good move

I thought the bad controls where part of the immersion. Wander sucks at swinging his sword because you would suck at swinging a sword that large, and he does that goofy standing long jump for the same reason. Similarly, he stays down for a long time when he gets hit hard or falls too far.

If the game had instant physics-defying controls like Mario or God of War, it would be a totally different and much less rewarding experience.

Call me old-fashioned if you will, but I can't respect a game that isn't fun to play. SotC is a adequate five minute short film saddled with hours of tedious, poorly-controlled gameplay dumped upon a technologically deficient engine.

occor wrote:

The tagline on the front page for this article is a huge spoiler, don't you think?

Really? The entirety of what is disclosed in the written description is obvious within minutes of booting the game.

Even when it seems obvious things are going to end poorly, you don't know for sure that they're not going to hollywood-ize the ending. And what seems obvious to you might not be obvious to someone who never played the game.

Obvious or not, it's lame that the author didn't err on the side of caution on the front page.

It's not the perfect game. No game is. The #1 most major criticism isn't the framerate, as stated in the article. I didn't think the loose controls were a problem either - they are intentionally loose. My major problem with the game is that it is too hard to figure out what the game is trying to get you to do. The game doesn't hold your hand enough, and I see that as a major problem. It takes you out of the game when you have to go look at a FAQ for half of the game's bosses.

LOL @ no hand-holding being a problem. Games today are far too easy as it is. This one wasn't even that challenging, and figuring out what has to be done to defeat the colossi was part of the fun - they are essentially walking puzzle levels. And I finished the game without ever needing to consult a walkthrough. The only time I looked at a FAQ for this was to see what rewards you got for doing the timed runs. You're just one of this generation's terrible gamers that wouldn't get past the first level of Super Mario Brothers.